Alastor Moody

The feast had begun, and the arrival of the honored guests had made the food especially good. Dumbledore must have winced at the cost.

But aside from Eli, no one else in the Great Hall seemed particularly interested in the food.

The girls kept glancing at the Durmstrang boys seated nearby. Those farther away had all but abandoned their reserve and looked ready to stand up for a better view.

These young men from Northern Europe had exactly the rugged masculinity the girls adored. They rarely smiled and carried themselves like soldiers who had undergone rigorous training, which only made the girls like them more.

The boys, meanwhile, made no effort to hide their stares toward Beauxbatons. The girls from France were much more outgoing and chatted happily with the Hogwarts students beside them.

"Did you see that? That girl just waved at me!" Seamus looked utterly smitten. Ron Weasley, beside him, looked disgusted.

"Don't flatter yourself. Even the Fat Lady wouldn't give you a second glance."

"Weasley, don't you start making fun of me!"

Beauxbatons wasn't an all-girls school. Why none of its male students had come was anyone's guess.

"Hey, Eli, is that Pheobe? Not bad!" Draco Malfoy grinned and nudged Eli with his elbow. Eli set down his knife and fork in annoyance and found Draco wearing a lecherous grin.

Eli glanced where Draco was pointing with his chin, only to spot Hermione Granger sitting between him and Pheobe, glaring at him. Something in her gaze filled him with an inexplicable fear, and he quickly buried his face in his plate and kept eating.

"Come on, why are you eating again? Look!" Several big chicken legs sat untouched in Draco's bowl as he kept jabbing Eli with his elbow.

Eli had cream smeared all around his mouth,